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Cougar Men's Cross Country Team Wins Conference USA Championship
Oct. 30, 2004
Chicago, Ill. - Paced by a pair of junior transfers, the University of Houston saved their best day of the season for the Conference USA Championships as the Cougars won their first conference cross country title in 45 years. The Cougars completed the race with 73 points to edge Charlotte by six points, which scored 79 team points. "Going into the race, I had looked at Louisville and Marquette as the two favorites to win the team title," Houston head coach Theresa Fuqua said. "We just wanted to run well as a team and stay up with them. Charlotte's second-place finish was just as much of a surprise as our winning." Louisville finished in third place with 82 team points, Cincinnati finished in fourth place with 94 points, East Carolina was sixth with 112 and Marquette had an seventh-place showing with 132 points. Houston's top runner in the race was Tyler Stanfield, a transfer from Alabama, who registered a second-place finish after completing the eight-kilometer course in 24:52. "Ty made a move at the four mile mark that changed the whole race," Fuqua said. "He took the lead and spread out the race. That decided the outcome of the overall race." Stanfield finished as the runner-up behind Mate Nemeth of Memphis, who won the race with a time of 24:47. Derek Yorek, a transfer from Adams State, finished in sixth place with a time of 25:12. Yorek was a NCAA Division II All-American at Adams State last year. "He went out hard and led the first half of the race," Fuqua said. "Then, people began shifting and he held on for sixth place." Junior Sesar Figueroa finished in 12th place to earn All-Conference honors for the second straight year after finishing in 15th place last year. "He is a very talented runner and a spark to our team," Fuqua said. "He ran tough and it is a tougher conference this season. He should feel good that he finished better than he did last year."
Houston's other runners in the race included Alex Winstel , who finished in 25 place with a time of 26:00 and Cole Dailey who had a time of 26:08 for a 28th-place finish. The last time Houston won a men's cross country championship was in 1959 when the Cougars won their third straight Missouri Valley Conference Championship before going on to win the NCAA Championship later that year. The Cougars will travel to the NCAA South Central Championships on November 13 at Waco, Texas. |
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